1 Sep 2008

NZ market down at close

8:10 pm on 1 September 2008

The New Zealand sharemarket rose 4 points to close at 3358 on turnover of $56 million on Monday.

Telecom was down 4 cents to $3.23, while fellow top stocks Contact Energy was unchanged at $8.36 and Fletcher Building fell 28c to $7.20.

Sky City Entertainment rose 12c to $3.72 and Sky Network Television was up 8c to $4.93.

Auckland Airport was down 1c to $2.11. PGG Wrightson was also down 1c to $2.73 after announcing that it plans to supply fuel for farmers.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up 1c to $3.16, while Fisher & Paykel Appliances also rose 1c to $1.77.

Australian market lower

The Australian share market closed closed marginally lower on Monday following weaker commodity prices, a weak US lead and major stocks going ex-dividend.

At 1615 AEST the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 17.3 points, or 0.34%, to 5118.3, while the broader All Ordinaries fell 15.5 point, or 0.3%, to 5200.

The September share price index futures contract was down eight points to 5136 on a volume of 15,429 contracts.

BHP closed A32c down to $A41.08 after going ex-dividend. Stripping out the A46c dividend, the stock closed technically higher, Macquarie Equities adviser Helen Spencer said.

Weaker commodity prices saw Woodside Petroleum lose ground, down $A1.65 to $A61.40, while Rio takeover target Rio Tinto lost $A2.54 to $A124.96.

Wall Street tumbled more than 1% on Friday as weak economic data and disappointing earnings from computer giant Dell weighed on the markets.

Crude oil, natural gas and gasoline prices rose in a special trading session on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Sunday, as Hurricane Gustav approached the US Gulf coast and halted most oil and gas output and shut refineries. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 171.63 points, or 1.47%, to settle at 11,543.55 on Friday.

At 1639 AEST the spot price of gold was $US830.45 an ounce, down $US4.20 on Friday's local close of $US834.65 an ounce.

Japan indexes down

Japanese share prices closed down 1.83% on Monday, ending below the 13,000-point level as losses on Wall Street and a stronger yen depressed sentiment, dealers said.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index fell 238.69 points to 12,834.18.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares was down 24.07 points or 1.92% to 1,230.64.